


La Vida En Azul

by wutthequiznack (birbsandemidogs04)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, boy's just going through another gay crisis, oof, the real reason Keith didn't have time for Lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 04:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15134765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birbsandemidogs04/pseuds/wutthequiznack
Summary: It's not only the past that Keith and Krolia witness in the Quantum Abyss. It's the future too.A blue, blue future.





	La Vida En Azul

Atop the mystical space whales is surprisingly relaxing and serene. With this new closure from his mother’s presence, Keith is calm for the first time since even he became a paladin. It seems to perpetually be evening here. The sky is always a calming deep purple or blue, the backdrop being the galaxy around them. Keith grows here, learns here, bonding with Krolia over things she can now teach him.

She teaches him to hunt, to gather, to make fires. Most nights it is she that makes the fires, only sending Keith to fetch wood from the forest. This small action causes Keith to feel protected, coddled -- she doesn’t tell him it’s because she doesn’t want him to burn himself, but he knows this anyway. He had never had this in childhood. This concern for his well-being that only a mother could show. He had felt it briefly when he was Red’s paladin, the lion coming to rescue him and protecting him on more than one occasion. Sure, Shiro had practically raised him half his life, but Shiro’s love is more brotherly than motherly. Krolia’s different somehow.

The flashes to the past occur almost regularly every day or two at first. They give a bit of warning beforehand by flashing brightly in Krolia and Keith’s eyes, and they always leave Keith either depressed or seeking answers. Most of the time they’re flashbacks to Krolia’s past, but sometimes they revolve around Keith. Through these he’s learnt how his parents met, his mother’s connection to the blue lion, why Krolia had to leave him and his father, among other things. Most are tiny snippets of memories that can’t have much significance in the grand scheme of things but which make him see just how similar he and his mother truly are.

Keith’s flashbacks involve him at the Garrison as a child, being raised by Shiro or struggling in class or acting out. Almost every one of his fights with other kids are shown to Krolia, whether he objects or not. He expects her to be angry with him for acting this way but at the end of every one of these kinds of flashbacks in particular, she just looks at him with sadness in her eyes. Sometimes she even pulls him into her arms and kisses the top of his head, comforting him without words, and Keith feels safe and ashamed all at once.

Over time, the flashes slow in intensity and speed. They start to come every week, then every month, and Keith stops dreading them. It’s only when they start to show the future that he begins to dread them again.

It’s a little after his nineteenth birthday (though technically, he is still eighteen) in the Abyss that Keith begins to see his future in the flashes. The last flashback had come a couple of months before, and had involved Keith as a toddler the day he had fallen from the tire swing in the backyard of his father’s shack and had gotten a nasty bump on his head and a graze on his cheek. His father had come running when he’d heard Keith start to cry -- loud, fat sobs amidst hiccoughs. Nineteen year-old Keith watches and hears his father’s deep voice, punctuated by the accent that had always soothed him, as he puts his arms around the toddler.

“It’s alright, Keith. Just a scratch, nothin’ to worry about. We’ll get you cleaned up, alright?”

Toddler Keith had paused in his sobbing to peer up at his father with large, shining eyes. He’d nodded, reaching up his small hands and making grabbing motions. Keith’s father had chuckled and picked him up into his arms as he took him into the house.

Keith had noticed the small tear trickling down his face after the flash was over. He’d completely forgotten that had ever happened. He’d looked over at Krolia and found her looking at the ground, her face wet with tears. This time it had been him who’d initiated the hug.

On Keith’s nineteenth birthday, he’s sitting on the grass across from his cosmic wolf Blue, whom they’d adopted as a pup after finding him in the woods with no mother sometime before. His hand idly pets the wolf as he starts to think about the other paladins. He’s begun to do that a lot lately, to think about how they might be doing without him. Lance invades his mind quite often, more often than the others. Keith wonders how he is.

The flash that comes is quite abrupt, cutting off Keith’s thoughts and causing him to still his hand in Blue’s mane. He looks back over at Krolia, who’s paused in stoking the fire to look up at the sky. He looks back just in time to be encompassed by the bright light.

The first thing he sees is himself, sitting on a log around a campfire. He looks older, and his mullet is up and contained in a ponytail. He’s dressed in normal clothes. This is no doubt the future, but is he no longer a paladin? Is this an alternate reality, like the one Sven had come out of?

He watches in silence as older Keith stokes the fire, and notices the white sand around him, the light blue waves creeping up the beach. It’s nighttime, and the waves shimmer, luminescent. It’s beautiful. Is it an island? He’s beginning to wonder why the flashes show him this in particular, just him sitting on a beach doing nothing. But then the water bubbles and a person rises from the shimmery blue. They’re drenched but laughing, all short brown hair and shining eyes and rippled abs and swim trunks -- it’s Lance. Keith’s breath hitches. He’s beautiful. Even more beautiful, in fact, than he is in the present.

Older Keith looks up from the fire to give Lance a tight smile.

“Why don’t you come in?” Lance asks him, shaking his hair out as he approaches the other. “The water’s great.”

Older Keith shakes his head. “I like it better here. It’s peaceful.”

“You don’t know what you’re missing, _mi vida_.” Lance replies. He settles himself down next to Keith by the fire, holding out his hands to warm himself. It’s odd, seeing Lance and himself acting like this -- eerie, almost. Keith keeps watching with bated breath.

Older Keith is looking at Lance now, studying him. “You’ve never used that one before.” he notes. “What does it mean?”

“Literally? My life. As in, _tu eres mi vida._ ” Lance says with a soft smile. Wow. Their rivalry must really have blown up now, if Lance is saying his whole life is devoted to Keith. He expects older Keith to get annoyed and look away like he always does, but instead, he does something that completely surprises Keith.

He _kisses_ Lance.

Present Keith’s mouth parts slightly in shock -- it’s only a small kiss, but both Lance and older Keith close their eyes, savouring the contact. They’re _in love._

Keith tunes out the rest of the vision and gradually the light fades around him. He feels Blue licking at his palm and mutely picks up stroking him again, his gaze glancing downward through his turbulent emotions. Then Krolia speaks, somewhere behind him.

“Who was he?”

“His name’s Lance,” Keith says, voice breaking. “He’s the paladin of the blue lion.”

“Are you--” Krolia starts hesitatingly. “Are you mated with him?”

Keith stops petting Blue and picks at some grass as his face goes crimson. “No.” he says shortly. He feels a hand on his shoulder and turns slightly. Krolia sits beside him. There’s a slight smile on her face.

“Well, he looks like he will make a terrific mate.”

Keith says nothing in response. It would be cruel if this was just an alternate reality where he actually has a chance with Lance, so he will continue to stay safe and not act on his feelings.

\--

The next time he sees the future, it’s only him that sees it. He knows this because Krolia is sleeping and he’s awake, petting Blue’s fur late at night. The flash comes suddenly and Keith blinks painfully, only having time to breathe before he’s thrust into another vision.

This time he sees himself a little closer to his current age and appearance. He’s again sitting on the same beach, but this time he’s dressed in his paladin suit and glancing off into the sunset. Present Keith looks around in the hopes of seeing the other paladins, but there is nobody else here but himself. Then Lance appears. He looks almost exactly the same as he had been when Keith had left for the Blades, only he’s a little bit taller and his jaw is a little more square. He, too, is dressed in his paladin suit and his hair is all mussed as if he had been on the receiving end of a big brother’s noogie.

Older Keith twists around to see him, gives him that familiar soft smile that Keith had witnessed in the other vision.

“Hey, man,” Lance says simply as he sits near Keith. “My family loves you. Abuelita wants you to come back tomorrow so she can give you those cookies she promised.”

Older Keith’s smile grows. “I look forward to it.”

Lance hugs his knees to his chest. “They also said I’d better marry you someday. Funny, huh? If they only knew.”

Present Keith’s breath hitches again. Marriage is such a foreign concept that it scares him deep inside. But being married to Lance? The idea is incredibly seductive.

Older Keith laughs uncomfortably. “Yeah,”

The silence that descends between them makes even Present Keith uncomfortable. He approaches even closer to them just as Lance speaks again. “You would not like being married to me. I’d be like, the worst husband ever. Everyone always says I’m too needy, plus I complain a lot and--”

“Lance,” future Keith cuts him off, “shut up.” Lance obeys, watching Keith in silence. “Look, you’re amazing, alright? You’re a great fighter, a really good friend, and your family loves you so much. You’re going to make someone really happy one day.”

Lance looks down, smiling. Shyly? That’s weird. He mumbles the next part, so quiet that Keith can barely hear it.

“What?” future him asks, and Lance looks back up at him.

“I said thanks,” Lance says hurriedly, spitting the words out as if they’re poison he has to expel from his body.

“No, you didn’t,” older Keith replies. Present Keith sits on the sand now, listening intently. It’s literally an out-of-body experience -- it feels as if he’s watching one of those television shows his foster parents used to sit him down in front of in order to occupy him.

“What is it you said?” Keith tries.

Then suddenly Lance surges forward, pushing his hand against future Keith’s chest. His lips are on Keith’s within seconds. Present Keith watches warily as future Keith’s eyes expand to the size of dinner plates, but before he can react, Lance is pulling away.

“I’m sorry -- I didn’t mean to-- it’s just that Allura’s, you know--” Lance rambles, staring at his lap.

Future Keith cuts him off again. “Lance, do you like me?”

Lance looks back up at him, but it’s not shock present Keith sees in his eyes. It’s certainly apprehension, but there’s also something else there. “Yeah. Surprised you didn’t get it sooner.”

“So the whole thing with Allura… you don’t like her anymore?” Future Keith asks.

“That part is pretty confusing,” Lance admits, rubbing the back of his head. “I think I realized I’ll never have a chance with her, and at the same time I realized I always had a thing for you.”

“Oh.” Keith says.

In this instant all Present Keith feels is a rushing desire to kiss Lance -- his Lance. He wants desperately to believe this future is his true future, but then, it still might not be. His stomach drops as he watches future Keith grab hold of Lance’s face and pull him into a harsh kiss, and he looks away when Lance closes his eyes, closing his eyes as well.

\--

The last time he sees the future, Krolia sees it too, and it only makes Keith more bitter. It’s only a snippet of a vision, after Keith turns 20. But it’s enough. He and Krolia are preparing to leave the Abyss when the flash comes. They exchange looks before braving the light, and find themselves on the same beach as the last two visions, only this time, Lance is much closer to Keith on the log - in fact, he’s resting his head on future Keith’s shoulder and they’re watching the waves dance together.

Present Keith looks down at the sand beneath his feet. He doesn’t want to watch these torturous visions anymore, as he knows they’ll never be true. But then Lance starts to talk, and he can’t stop himself from listening.

“Remember when I said you were my rival?” There’s laughter in his voice, and present Keith smiles in spite of himself, “You must have really thought I actually hated you.”

Future Keith nods. “Yeah, I did. It was awful for me. I thought you’d never like me back. I was so angry at myself for allowing myself to fall in love with you.”

Present Keith looks away. This echoes his sentiments exactly, and he gets the horrible sense that this might be the future after all.

“Dude, I always had a crush on you,” Lance says. “I think that’s why I made up the rivalry. I was just a stupid teenager who had no idea what he was doing or going to become. I had all this bravado, y’know.”

Future Keith only turns his gaze to the fire in front of them, perpetually glowing in every vision of the future. "You know, I saw visions of this when I was in the Quantum Abyss, with my mother. I always hoped this would be my future but I didn't think it would be until now."

Lance smiles. "Well, it is now," he says confidently. "Besides, you’re like, the hottest guy I’ve ever seen. Rivalry or no rivalry, it was only a matter of time before this happened.” he says then randomly, matter-of-factly. 

Present Keith’s ears ring at that, and his eyes shine. This has to be the future.

Future Keith snorts. “Wow, thanks.”

Lance grins. “C’mon, babe -- I’ve seen a lot of guys.” But he links his fingers with Keith’s on the log, a tiny action that present Keith almost misses, and when they lean toward each other to kiss, Keith doesn’t look away. They look so happy together, so at peace. Keith’s heart aches for that.

The last thing he hears before he flashes back to reality is future Keith saying, “I love you, you idiot.” And then he’s back in the present, Krolia and Blue by his side.

Krolia tilts her head and smiles when he looks at her. “You know that’s your future, don’t you?” she says softly.

Keith nods. “Yeah.”

“Have patience, Keith. If the visions are correct, then your Lance will come around. We find love sometimes in the most unlikely of places.”

Oddly, the advice helps, and Keith smiles back, a small smile that means he’ll have to brave his feelings a few more years until Lance realizes this, and it will probably be worth it in the end.

That’s probably why he shoves past Lance when he gets back to the team. It’s just collateral for all the pining.

**Author's Note:**

> *update* I had my Keith and Lance sims go to the romance festival, and Keith asked the romance guru for his wisdom... and the guy told him "we find love in the place you least thought to look"... IM SHOOK GUYS THIS IS AMAZING


End file.
